Lyle Franklin Kramer, the son of John and Edyth (Harmon) Kramer was born in the rural Denbigh, North Dakota home of his parents on November 21^st, 1935.  He died at the age of 82 years on Wednesday, January 18^th, 2018 at the Trinity Medical Center in Minot, North Dakota.

Lyle was reared in the ranch home of his parents and began his schooling in the White Rock rural school and completed his education at the Denbigh School.  On July 31, 1954, he was united in marriage to Marlene Hanson of Granville in Velva, North Dakota.  The couple ranched and raised their family of six in the Granville-Denbigh area.

In Lyle’s early years he worked on the Eaton Ranch and in the construction of the Garrison Dam project.  On September 23^rd, 1957 he took employment with the Souris Valley Telephone (SRT) where over the years he worked in several different capacities, starting as a lineman on the construction crew.  He spent most of his career as a Cable Splicer and later as the Combination Technician for the Towner area. He retired on November 30^th, 1990 after 33 years of service.  Lyle also raised “top of the line” purebred Black Angus Cattle, the real deal.  He was very proud of the bulls that were produced and sold from the ranch.  Music was intuitive to him and he played the guitar in several country bands and was well know for being an outstanding “guitar picker”. Also, in his youthful years, he competed in the area rodeo’s; calf roping and team roping events were his specialties.  Lyle was a founding member of the Little Buttons Rodeo Association which he hosted at his ranch north of Denbigh.  He was a former member of the North Dakota Stockman’s, the North Dakota Angus Association, the Ranchers Scale Association and the American Angus Association.  Marlene died June 21^st, 1994, just one month shy of their 40^th wedding anniversary, following a courageous fight with cancer.  Many years later, Lyle would meet a very special woman, Lorraine Wright.  She and Lyle shared many good times together and especially going to the Casino.  All that knew him, enjoyed his great sense of humor and the wonderful stories he could tell.  Able to do impressions of different people, Lyle would mesmerize his audience with such talent.  He was very proud and treasured his family, friends and neighbors.  He will be forever missed.

Survivors include his children, Tom of Sioux City, IA; Mark (Carol) of Granville; Todd, Hal and Robin (Bob) Burns, all of Granville and Jim Bob (Jody) of Milbank, SD; 8 grandchildren, Kris (Jackie) Kramer, Jamie (Jay) Bonebrake, Chad (Brandi) Kramer, Rusty Kramer, Ashlee Burns, Jake (Breanne) Burns, Seth Kramer and Shelby Kramer; best friend and companion, Lorraine Wright of Towner; sisters-in-law, Leah Seright and Lois Hanson both of Minot; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.  He was preceded in death by his wife; brothers, Ralph, Johnny and George Kramer; sisters, Phylis Hudson, Alice Seright and Lola Bacon; and his parents.

Funeral services held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, January 25th at the Zion Lutheran Church in Towner with spring burial in the Union Cemetery, Pastoral Associate, Wally Fretland, officiating.